The Committee, appointed by the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council (VALC) to conduct this study, has striven to achieve simplicity through standardization. It recommends that statutes pertaining to local government, to the extent permitted or feasible, be made available for use by counties, cities and towns alike. It further recommends that present forms of optional county government be repealed and be replaced by two forms that are available to both counties and cities. Such dual use of optional forms of government by counties and cities would implement provisions found in the Constitution adopted in 1971 which provide for optional forms of government for cities as well as counties. The Committee stated in its interim report last year, "An analysis of the various forms of optional county government reveals that their major provisions revolve around the establishment of, and powers and duties of, the county administrative officer, the office of treasurer, the office of commissioner of revenue and the school board." The Committee's proposed forms of optional government require only the continual employment of a chief administrative officer. Under one form the governing body appoints officers and employees in the administrative service of the locality upon the recommendations of its chief administrative officer, except as the governing body may authorize the head of a department to appoint subordinates therein. This provision or a similar one presently is found in most town charters. Under the other form of optional government the chief administrative officer appoints officers and employees in the administrative service of the locality except as he may authorize the head of a department responsible to him to appoint subordinates therein. This provision, or one similar, is found presently in the charters of most cities. Some of the present forms of optional governments for counties also provide for the same or similar treatment of the appointive powers as those in the Committee's two proposed forms. The elimination of the elected Constitutional offices of treasurer and commissioner of revenue are provided for by referendum as is the elimination of the school trustee electoral board. The Committee is aware that present law provides for a referendum on the question of elimination of school trustee electoral boards.

The Committee believes through use of the above-mentioned referendums and changes in statutory law that it proposes local government can be shaped into a configuration most suitable to its electorate.

The Committee, chaired by the Honorable Lewis A. McMurran, Jr., has been in existence nearly three years and during this period it has issued two prior interim reports.(*3) The legislation, or repeal of legislation, proposed in these reports has been enacted. The changes that are proposed now in Title 15.1 of the Code of Virginia are confined to one-half of the first twenty-one chapters of that title so as not to conflict with work of the Commission on City-County Relationships. Minor changes are recommended to related sections found in other titles. The Committee's recommendations when adopted will result in the repeal of approximately 550 statutes and the enactment of 94 new statutes. Because the Committee has combined and relocated numerous sections its work product is voluminous. Therefore, the Committee believes that publication of the material in its present form will give members of the General Assembly and the public an opportunity to review its work so that meaningful public hearings may be held in the spring and summer of 1977.
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(*3) House Document No. 29 of 1975. House Document No. 34 of 1976.